15-Year-Old Performs Surgery in India in Attempt to Break World Record

NEW DELHI – A 15-year-old whose physician father allowed him to perform a Caesarean section on a pregnant mom in an attempt to break a world record wasn't even eligible, the Guinness Book of World Records said, because it would encourage "bad medicine."

Dr. K. Murugesan could be stripped of his licenses and may face criminal charges after showing an Indian Medical Association chapter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last month a recording of his son, Dhileepan Raj, performing a Caesarean section said Dr. Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the association. The video showed Murugesan anesthetizing the patient.

Murugesan told the medical association that he wanted to see his son's name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

However, Amarilis Espinoza, a spokeswoman for the record book, said in an e-mail response to a question from The Associated Press that the organization doesn't monitor or endorse such feats because it would encourage the practice of "bad medicine."

The mother and baby were reported to have come through the surgery successfully.

"We were shocked to see the recording," Prasad told the AP, adding that the IMA told Murugesan that his act was an ethical and legal violation.

Murugesan owns and runs a maternity hospital in the city of Manaparai, Prasad said in a telephone interview from Manaparai. The family could not be immediately reached for comment.

Murugesan, who could possibly be prevented from practicing and face criminal charges for allowing his son to perform the operation, expressed no regret and accused the Manaparai medical association of being "jealous" of his son's achievements, Prasad added.

"He said this was not the first surgery performed by his son and that he had been training him for the last three years," said Prasad.

Prasad said that his team had reported the surgery to the state's top medical association in state capital, Chennai.

State health secretary V.K. Subburaj told reporters Thursday that the government would investigate.

"We'll get the report and then we'll see whether there are any violations ... prima facie it looks like there is a big violation," he said.

"We will definitely take action against the concerned medical officers."